Warming up before Triathlon- Pointless Affectation?

NorthernRaider

I always find myself wondering when I see people out on their bikes or running an hour before races and ahead of time in the water (when they use different muscles)! I can understand swinging the arms in the water, but what is the purpose of a cycling or running warm-up?

I can't help but think of the rugby players before Ireland home games after their warm-up, having to stand getting cold during a seemingly interminable number of anthems!

ecoli

A warm up is not to be taken completely literal in terms of just body temperature. Even though those rugby players are standing around for the national anthem they have already warmed up to allow the benefits such as:

• Increased speed of contraction of muscles. This will benefit overall performance
• Greater economy of movement will allow you to minimize energy wastage
• Increased oxygen utilization due to increased bloodflow and properties of haemoglobin which allow release oxygen more readily in muscle at warmer temperatures

The trick is to allow your body to get these benefits without tiring yourself and I would say you would see a noteable difference in your performance.

peter kern

The trick is to allow your body to get these benefits without tiring yourself and I would say you would see a noteable difference in your performance.[/QUOTE]

they had some great research prestentation at the last Itu science conference on swim warm up for Itu races ( where atheltes have to wait usually 16 min from end of warm up and start ) result was dry land , lsd, or high intensity swim warm up made no difference to oxygen utilisation in the first 400m

kingQuez

NorthernRaider wrote: »

but what is the purpose of a cycling or running warm-up?

Not sure about the physiological benefits, but as a final check of all kit I find it useful to go through the motions. It's also good for calming the nerves and getting in the right frame of mind

RacoonQueen

As far as tri goes though, what are the benefits of doing a warm up before getting in your wetsuit. Considering you could have your bike racked etc for over an hour by the time you get in the water. Are there any actualy physiological benefits to doing a warm up at 8:30/9 when you don't get in the water till 10:30? Unless you have a handy helper looking after a second pair of runners for you to do a warm up closer to your start.

longshank

the scientific evidence to prove any physiological benefits of a warm up (eg running before starting your swim in a tri) is not exactly convincing but don't underestimate the psychological importance of a warm up. Whatever works for you in that regard. If running, cycling etc gets you in the zone then each to his own

A0

NorthernRaider wrote: »

I always find myself wondering when I see people out on their bikes or running an hour before races and ahead of time in the water (when they use different muscles)! I can understand swinging the arms in the water, but what is the purpose of a cycling or running warm-up?

I can't help but think of the rugby players before Ireland home games after their warm-up, having to stand getting cold during a seemingly interminable number of anthems!

Might be worth doing a bit of reading about the priming effect...

longshank

A0 wrote: »

Might be worth doing a bit of reading about the priming effect...

reading is always worthwhile but you know what they say read this read that......

Abstract

Abstract: Binnie, MJ, Landers, G, and Peeling, P. Effect of different warm-up procedures on subsequent swim and overall sprint distance triathlon performance. J Strength Cond Res 26(9): 2438–2446, 2012—This study investigated the effect of 3 warm-up procedures on subsequent swimming and overall triathlon performance. Seven moderately trained, amateur triathletes completed 4 separate testing sessions comprising 1 swimming time trial (STT) and 3 sprint distance triathlons (SDT). Before each SDT, the athletes completed 1 of three 10-minute warm-up protocols including (a) a swim-only warm-up (SWU), (b) a run-swim warm-up (RSWU), and (c) a control trial of no warm-up (NWU). Each subsequent SDT included a 750-m swim, a 500-kJ (∼20 km) ergometer cycle and a 5-km treadmill run, which the athletes performed at their perceived race intensity. Blood lactate, ratings of perceived exertion, core temperature, and heart rate were recorded over the course of each SDT, along with the measurement of swim speed, swim stroke rate, and swim stroke length. There were no significant differences in individual discipline split times or overall triathlon times between the NWU, SWU, and RSWU trials (p > 0.05). Furthermore, no difference existed between trials for any of the swimming variables measured (p > 0.05) nor did they significantly differ from the preliminary STT (p > 0.05). The findings of this study suggest that warming up before an SDT provides no additional benefit to subsequent swimming or overall triathlon performance

Kurt Godel

longshank wrote: »

Seven moderately trained, amateur triathletes completed 4 separate testing sessions

A quick reading of the abstract suggests that sample size is way too small for any of the conclusions to be statistically significant. Any conclusions should be discounted, and there's no way those 99% confidence interval are accurate.

longshank

Kurt Godel wrote: »

A quick reading of the abstract suggests that sample size is way too small for any of the conclusions to be statistically significant. Any conclusions should be discounted, and there's no way those 99% confidence interval are accurate.

I agree with you to some extent but I think you missed my point....what I meant by 'read this read that' was that in sports science you can find any amount of reading to back any point you wish to make but it should all be read with an open mind and be slow to jump to conclusions! e.g. read about priming because it's in writing it must be correct:mad:
'Any conclusions should be discounted' is a bit harsh, maybe 'needs further investigation' might be a kinder way to look at it :P

Kurt Godel

longshank wrote: »

I agree with you to some extent but I think you missed my point....what I meant by 'read this read that' was that in sports science you can find any amount of reading to back any point you wish to make but it should all be read with an open mind and be slow to jump to conclusions! e.g. read about priming because it's in writing it must be correct:mad:
'Any conclusions should be discounted' is a bit harsh, maybe 'needs further investigation' might be a kinder way to look at it :P

I agree with your point that "read this read that" is a prevailing outlook in much of sports "science", unfortunately:)

The whole premise in using science to prove a hypothesis is to reach a conclusion. If the above test was framed with a large enough sample size (and it isn't), then its conclusions would be binding, and there would be proof one way or the other as regards the benefits of pre-Tri warm-ups. I know this looks like I'm splitting hairs, but inaccurate "studies" like this only contribute to the "read this read that" atmosphere of sports science, and I don't believe they should be read with an open mind, rather read as flawed (and therefore mostly useless) statistics.

To put it another way, this study is as scientifically accurate as a study on the effects of homeopathy on pre-Tri warm-ups. I'm sure there are more accurate scientific studies out there on this topic (and I'd be interested if anyone can point to any?).

A0

longshank wrote: »

reading is always worthwhile but you know what they say read this read that......

Abstract

Abstract: Binnie, MJ, Landers, G, and Peeling, P. Effect of different warm-up procedures on subsequent swim and overall sprint distance triathlon performance. J Strength Cond Res 26(9): 2438–2446, 2012—This study investigated the effect of 3 warm-up procedures on subsequent swimming and overall triathlon performance. Seven moderately trained, amateur triathletes completed 4 separate testing sessions comprising 1 swimming time trial (STT) and 3 sprint distance triathlons (SDT). Before each SDT, the athletes completed 1 of three 10-minute warm-up protocols including (a) a swim-only warm-up (SWU), (b) a run-swim warm-up (RSWU), and (c) a control trial of no warm-up (NWU). Each subsequent SDT included a 750-m swim, a 500-kJ (∼20 km) ergometer cycle and a 5-km treadmill run, which the athletes performed at their perceived race intensity. Blood lactate, ratings of perceived exertion, core temperature, and heart rate were recorded over the course of each SDT, along with the measurement of swim speed, swim stroke rate, and swim stroke length. There were no significant differences in individual discipline split times or overall triathlon times between the NWU, SWU, and RSWU trials (p > 0.05). Furthermore, no difference existed between trials for any of the swimming variables measured (p > 0.05) nor did they significantly differ from the preliminary STT (p > 0.05). The findings of this study suggest that warming up before an SDT provides no additional benefit to subsequent swimming or overall triathlon performance

Might be worth doing a bit of reading about the priming effect... not about different warm-up modalities on overall performance.

longshank

A0 wrote: »

Might be worth doing a bit of reading about the priming effect... not about different warm-up modalities on overall performance.

read my posts -my issue wasn't with priming it was with 'reading' I used warm-up protocols or 'modalities' as an example.
Kurt Goedel got it!

The world of psychology isn't exactly in agreement about priming either?

A0

longshank wrote: »

read my posts -my issue wasn't with priming it was with 'reading' I used warm-up protocols or 'modalities' as an example.
Kurt Goedel got it!

Don't be annoyed... If it was only about "reading" then there was no need to present an abstract.
Back on the OP, reading about the priming effect will not do any harm and will surely improve people perf.

tunney

Plus the fact warm ups help bring on the pre race dump #nuffReason

longshank

tunney wrote: »

Plus the fact warm ups help bring on the pre race dump #nuffReason

Priming???? ;-)